POWERGRAMS

H ow Belle Camp became Bellingrath Gardens and Home is the story of a childless couple sharing their good fortune and love of nature, first with family and friends, and soon afterward with everyone else. While the 65-acre garden is best known today for more than 250,000 azaleas that bloom each spring, Bellingrath is really a perennial floral spectacle. "People are fascinated to see that we can make the gardens bloom all year long," said Sally Ericson, director of Marketing and Public Relations for the facility that employs 60-70 workers most of the year and about 100 during Magic Christmas in Lights. Dozens of plant varieties are in bloom each month of the year: everything from zinnias in July and shrimp plants in August, to poinsettias in December and camellias – Mr. Bellingrath's favorite – in January. Each November, hundreds of 4-foot-long cascades of chrysanthemums are displayed on bridges and balconies, in baskets and elaborate iron planters, throughout the gardens. "It is the nation's largest outdoor chrysanthemum display," Ericson said. "Our team starts working in the greenhouse in January to prepare them." From the simple fish camp, the Bellingraths methodically fashioned a getaway unrivaled in much of the nation. She began the garden by bringing azalea cuttings from their Mobile home, and the collection grew with each passing spring. After touring European estate gardens in 1927, the inspired couple hired architect George Rogers to develop the property – which he did for the next 18 years until his death. Mrs. Bellingrath had camellias shipped in from across the South. She bought other plants from the gardens of many Gulf Coast residents to continue increasing the size of hers. The couple built Mirror Lake and bridge, a summer house, fountain plaza and a small lodge before opening their gardens to the public from January to May beginning in 1932, then year-round two years later. By the time the main Bellingrath home was completed in 1936, the owners had also created the largest rose garden in the South. For many visitors since then, the 10,500-square-foot house made with recycled brick – and cast iron columns, railings and galleries from the demolished Southern Hotel – is as big an attraction as the flowers. The 15 rooms with 12-foot-high ceilings are filled with the Bellingraths' antique furnishings collected over 30 years from around the world. The central courtyard and colonnade flooring is from ballast stones used in ships sailing from England in the early 1800s that ended up as pavers on Government and Claiborne streets in Mobile before being moved to the Bellingrath Home. Paula Moore, 65, has led the 30-minute home tours for 33 years. She describes in detail everything about the mansion, from Bellingrath's basement office to the second-story porches overlooking the Fowl River. She points out the many porcelain figurines in cases throughout, the rare Tiffany lamps, the floors of marble mined from Sylacauga, and the tile produced by Bellingrath's own National Mosaic Tile Co. The large kitchen with German silver counters and sinks includes gas and electric ovens – in case of an electric outage – two refrigerators, two dishwashers and other appliances unfamiliar to most Americans during the Great Depression era. China, crystal and silverware cabinets cover two walls, floor to ceiling, in the adjoining pantry. "Each morning, Mrs. Bellingrath chose three china patterns for the day, one each for breakfast, lunch and supper," Moore said. By 1939, the Bellingraths had built a guest house and a chapel to seat 30. "Both were very devout but it was so difficult to get to church in Mobile – because the dirt roads were so bad – they built their own chapel," said Ericson, who has an office in the adjoining former guest house. "People still have weddings in it today." Electric lines brought power to the house and garden in 1941, but two years later Mrs. Bellingrath died from a heart attack at age 64. Her husband would continue developing their property, adding a bird sanctuary and other elements, until his death at 86 in 1955. The Bellingrath-Morse Foundation he established continues to benefit not only the home and garden, but two Mobile churches as well as students at Rhodes (of Memphis), Stillman and Huntingdon colleges. The home was opened for tours in 1956, when the entire facility was officially named Bellingrath Gardens and Home. The foundation has continued making improvements and additions, with the major interruption coming in 1979's Hurricane Frederic. The storm caused about $6 million in damages, taking down more than 1,000 pine trees, 330 water oaks and 150 live oaks, forcing closure of the facility for six months. In 1982, the home was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Visitors may enjoy the Grand Lawn, many fountains with resident frogs croaking, the riverside walk, koi and turtles in the Asian sector, gazebos, timber bamboo forest and countless other elements along the 2-mile trail through the gardens. On National Public Gardening Day May 6, many people toured the greenhouse where Linda Guy, resident rosarian for 30 years, and other employees tended flowers and plants being grown to eventually join the thousands of others on the ever-changing grounds. "Bellingrath Gardens and Home is just an amazing, glorious place to see," said Ericson. 19

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